The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-27
How May Agnes Fleming Turned Her Knowl-
edge Of the Manners Of Fashionable Women
to Her Substantial Pecuniary Benefit.
Potent Reasons Why Women Continue
to Wear Bonnets in Theaters.
How Bernhardt Secures Good Effects in Play
ing Characters That Call for the Pecu-
liarities of Youth and Ingenuousness-

Special tc the Indianapolis Journe..
NEW YORK. March 26 Young Mrs. Waldorf
Astor has set new fashion for the bellies of high
society. 1t is based on aesthetic, intellectual.
exouisitely cultured idea, and ali the women in
that particular circle are already obeying it.
''Show no consciousness of your bustie.' Taat
is the mandate. In other and more explanatory
words, do not betray the fact that you are in she
least anxious about that abnormally developed
and easily displaced appurtenance of your eos
tune.
How do you know he isn't a gentleman"
asked somebody of Mrs. John Bigelow. ae that
eccentric wife of an Ex-Governor commented on
q chap at a recent reception.
Because he parts his coat-tails when he sits
down." was the reply
What she meant was that true gentleman
should appear so unaware of his clothes that in
taking seat, he would not spread aside the
skirts OF his coat to them from getting
wrinkled. That is the doctrine embodied in Mrs
Astors innovation. The belle must not adjust
the draperies of her tournure 80 much as by the
slightest pat or ihe most obscure adjustment.
The amended rule was first observed in opera
Mrs. Astor, and by the time Easter brings out
new toilets it will be in full force among our
swelis
Who shall say that a minute knowledge Of
fashions changeful customs is not worth while,
when May Agnes Fleming got rich by that
meansf She died year or more ago, leaving
fortune, over which fight has just arisen in the
hn 0f Of
the cheap papers. l asked a publisher in that
field how, when morbid fiction is plenty, Mrs.
Fleming accumulated wealth.
principally by making study of the ways
OF rich and fashionable folks" was his reply.
'She had knack of conceiving good plots for
stories calculated to interest women and girls;
but so have hundreds of amateur noyelists, whose
work may be had almost for the asking Differ
ent from them, she took the pains to learn ac-
curately and fully how women in the best soci-
esy' behaved, and she made her swell herones
conform thereto In that way she produced i'm
s+ssary ladies who were true to realism. She
kept them right up to the times. / have even
known her. in recasting of her old stories for
fresh publication. to alter not only the costumes
of the heroine, but to change her tricks of man.
ner to suit new usages Of society. Some of her
readers may not have appreciated this, but the
editors did, and it vastly enhanced her in their
estjpation, and doomed her along to popular
ity"
And how much pay did she getl"
'At the time of her death she was under con-
tract to write ten stories for SIS, ,000 They were
to be produced at the rate of two a year, thus
making her income $15, 900 per annum.'
How many hundreds of women with literary
bent will take up their pens, with convusive en-
thusasm, on reading those fgures2
''The Ladies' Fencing Class of the Fencers
| Club" is the long name of the latest association
| of New York fashionable girls for purposes OF
| exercise. 1t is sort of inside organization o1
the Fencers' Club. which has its home at 10 Yves,
| Twenty fourth street, and is composed solely OF
| relatives and sweethearts of the male fencers.
Captain Nicholas. the expert, gives to them the
benefit of all he knows. and on three days of the
week. from 10 O'clock until 2, the practicine
| room is sacred to feminine shrieks and
| gigges, to skirts and Turkish trous
| ers In the class are some of the bes,
| known bellies of fashion in the city The names
of Loriilarh, Vanderbilt and Astor are among
the first on the list. The limit decided upon fo,
tho membership has already been reached. anG
| the ladies have gone to work in very business
like earnest, getting themselves organized. elect
ing officers appointing committees and other
wise making themselves into an actual club
| They have not adopted special costume bu
! each dresses to suit herself Some still cling I,
skirts, though made fuller and shorter thar
usual. Some have falteringly clothed them
selves in Turkish trousers, and perhaps the al
dtion of very much abbreviated skirt; still
others have put on Mrs. Langtry's costume o
jersey waist and loose trousers. While engage
in actual exercise all wear thick leather armo1
protecting the front of the hody, with holes fo
the arms to go through, and tied down the back
This addition to the costume is neither beautifu
| nor picturesque, but for beginners in fencing
from puncture.
The very latest spring glove just from Paris
, is suggestive of a sheet of mourning paper, of
black edged handkerchief, Of a widow in th
third degree of woe. In material it is of fir
undressed kid, and in color it is of grayisl
greenery gallery cast, as if it had not quite r
} covered from seasickness That is, it is this hr
where it isn't black. IL is embroidered in blae
, and bound with black, and there are strips
black kid between the fingers and running the
. length. The effect is unique But there is
! purpose in this. Those black strips are q
f there because they are pretty. Their motive
? more philosophical than that. They are put
: because they make the fingers look long. slend
and bird-clawish. Many of the new glo v
from Paris are rather striking. And some
l. them strike pretty hard. too. A pair of yello'
= green ones embroidered in black, for instanc
: are quite equal in effect to blow below the be
y A greenish tint, sometimes quite decided. seer
: to have struck all the colored gloves Green
y the most frequent color, too, in the MILNE
importations, and it begins to look as it fashi